Squashers may be interested in a match played on Wednesday 25th February 1981 at the Cable and Wireless Company, Porthcurno near Lands End. Cornwall Police played the Porthcurno side on their own court in a friendly fixture. The Cable and Wireless Court was all concrete (including the floor) and the standard Green Flash squash shoes which were commonplace in those days were not the best for absorbing the pounding. The company cinema was immediatelybehind the rear wall and throughout the match the strains of 'Bright Eyes' could be heard quite loudly. Watership Down was the film being played to an enraptured audience of cablers. they certainly knew how to have a good time. Anyhow, the second string match involved a Police Sergeant from Falmouth called Andy Scott and the game was being marked by myself. Andy was just about to serve from the right hand box when there was a loud rumble that went on for about 10 seconds, he waited for the rumble to end and we all looked at one another. Andy said to Sam, "Blimey, you can hear Concorde well tonight", everyone on the gallery laughed and Andy then made more comments to his opponent about the noise. It was necessary for Sam to ask Andy to get going as they only had one court and drinking time was getting shorter. Andy then continued to serve and ran out an eventual 3-0 winner.
We thought that Andy's comment about the rumble being Concorde was the correct explanation and thought no more about it. The next day the banner headlines in the Western Morning News (WMN) was "Tremors Shake Houses in West". In fact there had been 3 tremors but the biggest that evening was at 8.35pm. which is about right for the one Andy encountered.
Enquiries with the British Geological Survey (BGS) in Edinburgh confirmed that the intensity of the quake was 3.5 on the Richter scale and centred some 20 miles off lands End at a depth of 5 kilometres. The BGS call the quake the 'Constantine Quake' and its intensity exceeded all the recent quakes at that time and there has not been a bigger one in the UK since then. The WMN quote a woman from Penzance who said "I was in the bath when I heard a bang and the water slopped over the over flow. I was out of the bath like a flash". At Pendeen, Tim Stevens an auxiliarycoastguardsaid it was like a "heavy roller going past the house for about 12 to 15 seconds, I could hear a couple of bottles on the shelf clinking together". At Helston people are reported as coming out onto the streets and peering through their windows to see what was occurring.Police and Fire Brigade switchboards were jammed with enquiries but the last word in the WMN from Truro Fire Brigade is "Everybody appears to think that it was something to do with Concorde" which is what we assumed during the squash match.
So there it is, I am unaware of any other squash match being stopped by an earthquake in the UK. Another bit of history for Cornwall.
Footnote:
At the time I was playing my 572nd game and at my 57th different court. The Porthcurno court sadly no longer exists, in fact that same day I had also played a game at the 'Red House' at Tywardreath in the Graham Nile trophy. This court has also been demolished and when I played on it it had a floorboard missing!
Sam Balsdon (Lux Park)
As our team was desperately in need of all the points we could get near the end of last season, I had occasion to telephone Russ to apologise for a spelling mistake on our latest result card, thereby hoping to avoid the dreaded point deduction! Whilst chatting he suggested that I might like to write a contribution for the next handbook, perhaps in the tradition of last years article, which I took to mean that you are about Roger's age and another article about the good old days might be as interesting as last years contribution by Roger, so here goes:
My fading memory can just about recall a time before there were dots on balls, and when I was in training to perform the run around the out of court line exercise and beginning to feel invincible. That was until we, Bodmin at that time, went to play St Mawgan on their own court one cold winters evening. I can still picture my opponent to this day although his name escapes me, a perfect old gentleman resplendent in white shirt complete with RAF emblem, and baggy white shorts to below the knees and an old black painted racquet........no match for me and my Maxply, or so I thought. Not twenty minutes later, still reeling from my display of pyrotechnics, having gained three points in three games, I was in the shower contemplating the lesson. Two weeks later, self esteem restored after numerous successful thrashes with players of my own age, we were of to HMS Raleigh where they had a nice warm court that would suit me unlike the fridge at St Mawgan. Introductions over, my opponent was to be an elderly pipe smoking vicar, I can even remember his name, the Reverend John Shee. He did take his collar off for the short duration of our match, at least this time I got four points in three games! Such was the racquet skills of these old boys that they were more than adequate against the hard hitting super fit youngsters.
It is amazing how quickly the years roll by and even I some years ago reached veteran status and had the honour of being selected for the County Veterans Team, where I quickly learnt that there were other skills that had been developed by seasoned veterans. I can remember one of my first County matches against I think Hertfordshire. Things were not looking good as our number two string took the court and he definitely had to win to give us a chance overall. He was at that time a canny player from the Falmouth club not known for his super fitness, unlike his brother. However the match went the worst possible way and he landed up looking the worse for wear at two games all and seven six down and hand out in the fifth after a long exhausting rally. Looking at our man, we all thought that's it then, when a let was asked for against us, to which our man in a proper gentlemanly manner appealed whilst simultaneously removing his head band and spectacles, and out came the handkerchief kept especially for spectacle cleaning. With slow deliberate glass cleaning action, a detailed discussion developed with the referee on the finer points of the let situation, and in two minutes the whole gallery was spell bound listening to the treatise being delivered in a most polite manner to the referee that would have been good enough to have got the case against the Ripper dismissed! A full three minutes must have passed before his opponent asked for permission to speak and reminded the referee that there was a game to finish, by which time glasses were clean and breath restored and our man finally won three games to two! A good lesson in the finer arts of veteran squash.
Mind you not all of the veteran team needed to acquire the afore mentioned skills. Our number one at that time was a left handed farmer well into his veteran era, and many a time you would over hear the opposing team captain briefing his sprightly first year veteran with the advice " to run the old boy around a bit", only to find an hour or so later our man still going strongly and his opponent at his mercy and on his knees.
Many more very enjoyable squash years have passed thanks to there being Cornwall Leagues to play in, and as I look down Russ's rankings, low and behold there are still a few old un's infiltrating the list. I dare not mention names and especially ages here for fear of incriminating myself, but if you come up against any old blokes with grey beards, or even worse, left handers with or without beards and with a smooth turn of phrase, watch out, because the younger the scalp the sweeter the victory.
Have a great forthcoming season.
John Dowman
Probably as a penance for making him suffer on the court recently, the new County Secretary has asked me to write a few words about squash around the county in the old days - the really old days. So here goes.
After playing for about 10 years previously outside the county, I started playing League squash for Newquay in 1965 at a time when there was only one league in the county. Falmouth and Bude were probably the strongest clubs, challenged occasionally by Newquay and St.Ives, and less often by St.Mawgan, Culdrose, and Bodmin. The players on the circuit tended to be Service personnel, or public school old boys - some having come to work in Cornwall, or converted tennis or badminton players, in addition to a variety of farmers. There were very few women or youngsters playing the game. None of the schools had squash facilities.
Some of the clubs were not located where they are now. The Newquay club played at the Bredon Court Hotel. The St.Ives club played at the Tregenna Castle Hotel. The Bodmin club played on a unique, weird court which must be long gone. Other courts were dotted about in various institutions such as Tehidy Hospital, Camborne School of Mines, and Cable and Wireless down at Porthcurno. Some were in private ownership such as the Porthgwidden court at Feock. The best facilities tended to he at the Service establishments.
There was very little squash played in the county to the East of Truro. The standard of the top few players was quite high, but there was little depth, and given a modicum of talent it was possible to rise quickly to near to the top of the unofficial rankings. The squash boom in the 70's saw the creation of the Truro club, together with others based in the new leisure centres, as well as a proliferation of courts in hotels, and a few privately owned clubs. The memory is not perfect, but a few recollections about League squash in those early days. Antiquated equipment; the heavy wooden racket and the dotless ball; spinning for service - 2 services then - to the call of "Rough or Smooth?"; the unsophisticated footwear. White clothing, without logos, was the norm. Coloured clothing was thought to impede vision. An opponent could ask, and some did, for an offending item of clothing to be removed. There were 5 players in each team. Special dispensation for 4 players to a team was granted later by the SRA because of travelling distances and single court facilities leading to long, late journeys. Think of St.Ives to Bude before the roads were improved.
I remember cold, cold courts and unsprung floors, sometimes made of stone, and sweating walls; cold showers and the absence of changing facilities. Apart from Falmouth no clubs bad on site cooking facilities, or a bar. Entertaining visiting teams meant having an arrangement with a pub - often a different pub each year, and sometimes a distance away. Bude have been known to entertain in Devon! I remember the old court at Bodmin with its prefabricated walls and the strange sound effects. I remember the luxurious changing arrangements at St.Ives - en suite bedrooms in the Tregenna Castle Hotel. Contrast that with changing in the corridor outside the court at Newquay and Tehidy, and showering in a cupboard in a hole in the wall.
I remember the 2 brave ladies who played in the mens team at Culdrose. I remember the honour of being asked to play in the Bude Invitation Tournament with its prestigious roll of winners. I remember the foundation of the Truro club, and the strange green lino on the floors of the courts - and what a novelty was a glass-backed court. I remember, before the arrival of official rankings, the fiddling of team orders by team captains, and the problems caused by 'ringers' in the Pawle Cup.
Lack of space prevents me from going on. I have deliberately not mentioned individuals. To have mentioned some would have been unfair to those omitted, but there have been many characters, with their achievements and their disappointments, and many anecdotes. "Stars I have known" or "The Great Left-Handers" or "Tricks of the Trade" or "Rogues Gallery" (maybe with a sub-section on "Bent Markers") or "Ten Great Watches" come to mind as topics worthy of further comment. I go back not only to the B.C. years (Before Computers), but also to the B.W.C. years (Before the World Cup). I hope I've jogged a few memories. If I haven't, then so be it. In terms of opportunities and equipment you have never had it so good, and I haven't heard a mobile phone on court, yet.
Enjoy the season.
ROGER DUNBAR